*Disclaimer* There is NO non-consensual sex in this book! There is no cheating! And this book DOES NOT end in a cliffhanger!

Clara

I lost Dax Trenton years ago. No one could tell me where he’d gone, or who took him. When my father moved us out to Southern California for a job I figured that would be the end of it. That was until the day before I started college. Dax Trenton was not only standing in my kitchen — but he was living right smack next door. He taunted me with his revolving door of women. He insisted on having me up close and far away. I tried to stay away. But does a moth really stay away from the flame? Even when he does the unthinkable, when Dax pursues — I submit.

Dax

She doesn’t know I recognize her. I know exactly who that very well-formed woman is that teases and torments me from her next door window. Clara Parker was my breath and everything I’d ever wanted—until she betrayed me. Now I’m out for revenge, and I will have it. All over her very creamy, soft, and supple flesh. What neither of us is expecting is to fall face first in love with one another. Or maybe we were always in love, who the hell knows? I just know that when it’s all laid out, Clara, broken or whole, will be mine. What I didn’t count on was an enemy from both our pasts showing up to break us.

Genre: New Adult

Warning: Contains adult content that is inappropriate for readers under the age of 18.

Approx Word Count: 50,000

Clara

“Holy hot frat boys, Batman!”

I hadn’t even woken up yet, and already Shannon was screaming in my face. One eye peeked open as I looked over at my friend, gazing out my bedroom window that had a full panoramic view of the neighborhood. Not that it was anything fabulous. I lived in Claremont, California in property owned by the Pomona Colleges.

My throat was scratchy and I cleared it before reaching for the glass of water on my night stand. We’d been at Disneyland/Downtown Disney until three in the morning. As I reached for my phone to check the time, I fell back onto the bed.

“What could possibly be so entertaining that you are awake at seven in the morning after we got home two hours ago?”

I picked up the pillow she had been sleeping on next to me and tossed it at her. She let loose a veritable platter of curse words that would make any frat boy proud.

Her coffee slooshed from her mug, dribbled down her hand and got on her pajama top.

“What the fuckity fuck, Clara? I am trying to look at hot shirtless men next door, and you’re worried about your rem cycle.” Shaking her head, she looked back out the window and took another sip of her Colombian brew.

Hot shirtless men next door?

“What are you talking about? That house is for sale.” I tossed the blankets off, scrubbed my hands over my face and got up. It didn’t take long to gaze out the window. I was on the top floor and my huge bay window faced the neighborhood. I could see it all. Including the parade of, as my best friend said, hot shirtless men moving furniture into the house next door.

“What the hell. Just a week ago a nice gay couple with a baby was looking at that. How the hell did they get moved in so fast?” I was talking more to myself than Shannon. But of course she answered my mumbled question.

“Who the hell cares? That is Beta Lamda Ki, the hot frat in a school full of nerds.”

I glared towards my friend. While she would be attending Mt. Sac in two weeks, I was going to Harvey Mudd College, which was one of seven Ivy League level colleges that made up the Pomona Colleges. My father was a professor and it just made sense. It helped I wanted to follow in his footsteps of archeology. So, to see a group of college men this good looking moving in next door was odd. Not that nerds couldn’t be hot. I mean, look at all the men in Star Trek. That was wank material for all men and women.

I was frustrated, still sleep groggy, and so ready to curl back up in my bed, and not get up until my classes started in the morning. I slid on a pair of slippers and dragged my feet all the way down the hall and down the kitchen, where my friend had already brewed her first of about ten cups of coffee.

“Wait, wait, wait for me!” Shannon called as she nearly collided with my back. I stopped short and let out a huge gust of air.

“How can you possibly be this excited after like thirty minutes of sleep?”

She lifted her shoulders and dashed around me. “I don’t need sleep when I got frat boys moving in next door to my best friend.” As she grabbed the handle of the front door, she turned back towards me before opening it. “Can I just say how excited I am that your dad took that job at Cambridge for the semester? I mean, not only am I staying with you while he is gone, but next door to the fraternity on this campus. The group of hot smart men that are our future dirty politicians and producers of awesome movies.” She jumped, squealed, and was dashing out of the house and down my front porch before I could stop her.

I seriously considered going back to bed at that point. If she wanted to have a day with the boys, so be it. Personally, I was in no mood to be social, flirty, or even remotely human. Against my better judgment I popped a coffee cup into my Keurig and waited on my mug to fill up. As the cup filled, I gazed out my kitchen window. It faced the opposite side of the house and I watched as my older neighbor, Mr. Lambert, watered his award-winning rose garden. He saw me spying on him and I lifted my mug before taking a sip and allowing the deep, rich scent of caffeine to penetrate my sleep-clogged brain.

“Bed, going back to bed,” I mumbled.

I set the mug down with a hard enough thump to slosh out coffee on the countertop. Not caring at that point about the mess, I turned quickly to head back up into my room, and collided with a wall.

That’s funny. I don’t remember there being a wall here.

My hands pressed against warm, hard flesh. I sucked in a breath just as a rumbling laugh vibrated out of the body in front of me. My eyes traveled up slowly. I was gaze level with just under his pectorals. I looked down first and those low slung jeans did nothing to hide that deep V that would make even a nun’s brain melt into a pile of horny goo. Lord, the man had a dusting trail of hair that slipped right into those pants, his groin barely hidden by the denim. He was slick with sweat and he smelled like citrus, soap, salt, and that musky man scent they all had when they had been working hard. Pecks that put a comic book hero to shame made my fingers itch to touch them. He gleamed with sweat and it seemed to accentuate his ten pack. My gaze went higher and took in his features. His nose was straight, his jaw seemed to work as he watched me examine him, his bottom lip was fuller than his top and I fought to not lick my own bottom lip in response, then his eyes.

Those baby blues were something out of a teenage dream. He was perfect. Handsome. And I was just staring like an idiot.

His lips were curved up. I realized, as a shiver shot up my spine, that a very large, warm hand pressed into the small of my back, bringing me in closer to him. I felt his whole, hard front pressed against mine.

“Aren’t you a cute one, little girl?” he drooled.

Little girl?

Who was this dude?

I would later blame my temporary insanity on my hour of sleep. But for now, in this moment, this ridiculously hot frat boy calling me ‘little girl’ and ‘cute’ ruffled every feather in my nerdy, smart-girl brain.

I shoved at his chest, and his arm slithered around me tighter. He pulled me in tight and tsked down at me. His voice was deep, masculine, and was this man really a college student? His hair was untamed and messy, the thick brown locks falling over one side of his sunglasses. He was perfect. One of those guys you look at in passing and they don’t even realize you were there because you are plain, small, and very mousy indeed.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he smirked as I shoved at him harder.

I was seriously considering kicking him in the shin when Shannon’s loud voice vibrated off the walls of the room.

“Oh good. You met!” She was in the doorway of the kitchen.

I shifted to look around the creep who wouldn’t get off me. Shannon wasn’t alone. A leaner, sweeter-looking version of the man that held me was standing next to her. His blue eyes glittered with mischief as he spoke.

“You’re Professor Parker’s daughter, right?”

I was quickly released at that. My feet didn’t seem to be working as I stumbled back. I reached behind me to grab the counter and, swallowing hard to catch my bearings, I nodded towards the handsome guy smiling very genuinely in my direction.

“That is so cool! He was my mentor last year. I’m an archeology major. I nearly went with him but I had a full course load here to fulfill my major.”

“That is just so fucking interesting, Todd.”

That voice.

There it was again.

I turned my attention away from the smiling, attractive man, and back to the beast that was looking down at me like I was some sort of snail slithering in his way.

He crossed his arms over his chest and his biceps bulged. He looked like a wrestler. A very large, angry, narcissistic one.

“My friend Todd there has yet to learn that women don’t dig that shit. They dig a guy that can fuck’em for hours, make them cum, and calls them the next day for round two. Ain’t that right, little girl?”

I knew my face had gone beet red. I could feel the heat all over my body at his vulgar words.

Who talks like that?

“Fuck yeah,” Shannon mumbled.

That’s right, Shannon talks like that.

No one, all through high school, knew why she and I had been best friends. We met when my dad moved here four years ago, my freshman year of high school. She latched on to me fast and hard. Yet somehow I remained uncorrupted by her liberal way of living life.

“See, Todd. Girls like to fuck.”

You see, sleep deprivation had slowed down my wits. Normally a guy like this would’ve gotten one of my best nerd-girl comebacks. He would’ve been compared to a Dalek or something equally repugnant in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. But like I said, I was very much off my game. I could only glare, right before I straightened that spine of mine and marched past the shitty asshole standing in my kitchen, insulting me. I reached my hand out to the handsome guy standing in front of me. He was yuppie perfect. You could see the ten pack of abs rippling behind his slightly damp white t-shirt. His arm muscles weren’t behemoth large like the asshole behind me, but he was in shape, lean, and his boyish good looks had me nearly melting at his feet. This guy was my type all the way. I felt myself falter a bit as he took my hand. His large, smooth hand closed around mine and he kept that goofy grin on his lips as his blonde hair flopped forward.

“Nice to meet you, Todd. I can let my dad know I met you. He usually Skypes me before bed.”

His hand closed around mine tighter and his grin turned into a full-watt smile. His white teeth exposed, he nodded.

“You think I could come over one day? I mean, he knows me and all. I was one of his picks for going with him this semester, but like I said, course load here was too much. And the fraternity commitments and all…”

“Who the fuck cares! Jesus H Christ, you two are fucking boring.”

I could feel my annoyance level rise. Then I felt him at my back. All that man heat was hard to ignore. I looked up at Todd and his gaze was sympathetic and still had that charm that was quickly winning me over to his side. Then hands landed on my shoulders. Hot breath teased my tangled hair, and my cheeks flared as I looked up at Todd, who took a step back, almost uneasy.

Why did a good guy like him hang out with a douchecanoe like this?

“I’m having a party tonight, a house warming of sorts, see you there.”

Then the mysterious hot guy was gone. The heat that invaded every sensation in my body was striding out my door like he owned the place.

Note to self, keep door locked from now on.

As I watched, the muscles worked in his ass and thighs I realized he looked so much better leaving than coming. I licked my lips and looked back up at Todd. His shoulders lifted and he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I would apologize for him, but he wouldn’t even apologize for him, so it’s kinda pointless.” He looked around my kitchen, seeming to avoid eye contact. “But, I mean, if you aren’t busy, it would be cool for you to come tonight.”

Was this guy, well, into me?

There was that damned heat in my cheeks again. I felt like a virgin fool. I wasn’t even a virgin thanks to my most recent ex, who had somehow talked me into giving that little tidbit of trust away, then running off and humping some girl at a Taylor Swift concert in the bathroom. I wouldn’t have known if he didn’t post a selfie while in the act on Instagram. Apparently I dated douchebag idiots. I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and nibbled on the sensitive flesh.

“Sorry, but school for me starts tomorrow. I mean, my first class isn’t until ten in the morning, but I’m like you, I kinda packed my schedule pretty heavy. I got approved for extra credits because of my dad. I just don’t think I can come.”

Todd nodded. He was so effing cute. What was I supposed to do with him? He was cute, probably rich, was in the same major as I was, and he and my dad got along. Temptation was a bitch. I’d promised myself after my ex I wasn’t going to date again until after college and I had some sort of stable internship or job.

“I understand.” He paused, turned to leave, and then came back. The guy invaded all my space and something funny happened. I didn’t blush, I didn’t lose my train of thought. No, that other twatbag did that to me and it pissed me off. It pissed me off so much that I wanted nothing more than to prove that bit of biology wrong! “But I really hope you come. I know I’m a third year and you’re a first, but—“ He ran his fingers through that messy mop and it stuck up all over and was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. “I think we could really hit it off, you know?” He brushed his knuckles over my cheek and turned and strode—no, he swaggered out of my damned house. Once all the testosterone had left the building, I collapsed in a chair and looked up at Shannon, who was currently wiggling her brows at me.

“Oh my fucking God, you whore! They both dig you.”

Both? Did she not see the way that other a-hole was looking at me?

“You’re delusional. Who was that other ass anyways? God, I’m NOT going tonight. I am ninety percent sure that Todd will be in some class with me, and I’ll see that guy with him living next door. I am not walking into the hellmouth next door with that guy running the place. He’s like a giant animal heaving and blowing out hot air. What a dick.”

Shannon sucked in a breath and waved her finger at me.

“Language, language, Ms. Parker. He must have really gotten under your skin.” She took a sip of her coffee and watched me over the top of her mug.

I got up and collected mine and took a sip. I strode over to the front window and looked out at the scene before me. It was honestly a buffet of hot. Men and women dashing about. All were shirtless—well, the women were in bikini tops. It was then I felt it, eyes on me. I scanned the front yard and saw that a-hole watching me, leaning against the huge U-Haul out front. He tipped down his glasses and winked. I lowered my eyes to slits and glared. It only seemed to encourage him as he grabbed a girl running past. He gripped her ass as she wrapped her legs around him, giggling. He kept his eyes on me. The guy came closer, finally pinning the girl to a tree in my yard. Still, he looked at me.

I felt Shannon come up behind me and whistle.

“If he wasn’t that guy, I would totally screw him. But I honestly don’t feel like being one of his girls.”

Sadly, I couldn’t take my eyes off the duo as he clearly had his hands in her pants and was bringing her off in my yard.

“Who exactly is this guy?”

She scoffed like how dare I not know. Of course Shannon would know who the big man on campus was when she didn’t even go to the school.
“Dax Trenton.”

I felt the color drain from my face, and if I was the swooning type, I would have totally passed out Scarlett O’Hara style. But I was a nerd, I was a smart girl/woman, and that name. A flood of emotions rolled up inside my stomach and came to rest like lead.

Dax Trenton, my former best friend from Illinois before he moved away when I was eleven.

“Fuck.”

Clarity – Zedd|Foxes

Boom Clap – Charli XCX

Rude – Magic!

Who You Love – John Mayer|Katy Perry

Let Me Go – Avril Lavinge|Chad Kroeger

Up in the Air – Thirty Seconds to Mars

Timber – Pitbull|Kesha

Bang Bang – Jessi J|Ariana Grande|Nicki Menage

Sledgehammer – Fifth Harmony

Choose your Battles – Katy Perry

Bleeding Out – Imagine Dragons

The Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga

Fancy – Iggy Azalea|Charli XCX

Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

It Takes Two – Katy Perry

Wide Awake – Katy Perry

Black Widow – Iggy Azalea|Rita Ora

Unconditionally – Katy Perry

Animals – Maroon 5

Bonnie Bliss is the brain child of two authors. Bonnie is husband and wife duo that has come together to weave stories of passion, action, betrayal, and ultimate surrender. They have discovered that mixing genres in their thing. Their tastes go dark, and they love to twisted up sweet stories and make them a bit more tense and sexy. Bonnie writes in multiple genres with plans to dabble into more areas of fiction.

One is a Southern California native, the other was born and raised in Yorkshire, England. The husband spends his time giving the wife alpha males with bite. He is a man that needs to see his world in print. He has a panty melting accent, loves listening to music, watching Game of Thrones, and obsessing over Heisenberg. The wife spends her time writing strong women that evolve into their power, they don’t just come out guns blazing. She claims the song California Girls, by Katy Perry is totally accurate. She’s done everything from waitressing, customer service phone rep., Corporate Real Estate, and spent a pretty impression part of her life working for the Disney Corporation—before finding her way into the publishing world with her husband.

Who would think that a simple car accident could determine someone’s destiny?

But when Mia Tandy meets Nicholas Devlin their world’s are changed.

Falling in love should be simple, should be natural and joyous but, as they are from different world’s, there are many obstacles thrown in their way.

There is one thing that no one can control and that is undying love. Fate has brought these two together, and class is keeping them apart.

What they don’t realize is … they are somehow connected.

One person holds the piece to this puzzle.

A secret from yesteryear and a certain string of pearls holds the key. These secrets not only are the key to a old romance but a key to their destiny.

Author Bio

Not to stray from the common Author cliché, I loved to read as a child – I actually excelled in reading from a young age. This was definitely to my advantage. In saying that I only enjoyed reading “happily ever after stories.”

As I grew older my pleasures turned to “teen romance stories” with the obvious transition being heavy love stories and of course Jackie Collins’ novels.

Then due to relationship and work commitments my reading all but ceased until my children were at an age where I could steal and hour or two (which then became an hour or four).

A few years ago I discovered the Twilight Saga, this kept my thoroughly entertained for years as I read and re-read numerous times… Enter 50 Shades. I think the fact that these books were written by amateur writers stirred something inside of me.

A few years ago my dear mother passed away, I became really lost —books became my saviour. They took me to a very special place … away from reality. One night I had this dream, it was so vivid in my mind that when I awoke it was fresh and alive. It just kept growing and growing and that’s when Majestic Pearls was born. I’ve not looked back since.

Music is my passion, I love it! Though it needs to be genre’s from the fifties through to the eighties. Everything I do is done to music from my writing through to my housework—it soothes my soul.

I also have full time duties with my husband (fourth child) and our family business and three sons which all keeps me on my toes, there’s never a dull moment around my house.

Living in the beautiful Melbourne Australia, we have an abundance of restaurants and café’s which is my other passion … coffee dates with my wild and wacky high school friends … after thirty plus years we still catch up regularly and have a wild time. All of these people and my large family form my circle … a circle that I love and are thankful to have.